Indicator



June 5, 1956 J. F. SULGER 2,748,514

INDICATOR Filed March 28, 1952 CALORIE TOTALIZER INVENTOR. Joseph f'Ju/ger Zha %,&m 7/3447 ATTORNEY s INDICATOR Joseph F. Sulger, Hollis, N. Y.

Application March 28, 1952, Serial No. 279,112

1 Claim. or. 40-70 The present invention relates to counting or totalizing devices, and more particularly to small manually operated counters which may be carried on the, person, or worn as an ornament.

An object of the invention is the provision of a device of this character which may be manually advanced or reset at will, and which will remain set in any desired one of a fixed predetermined number of positions.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a small thin counter of ornamental appearance which may be worn on a chain or in any other suitable manner as an article of jewelry.

Still a further object of the invention is the provision of a device of this character which is adapted to be constantly carried by the user, in order to keep a record of some total amount, such as keeping a record of the total number of calories consumed by a person who is adhering to a special diet.

By carrying such a counter, a person who is following a diet such as a reducing diet, is relieved of making memoranda, or of attempting to remember his total calorie consumption from meal to meal for each day. Since the counter or totalizer is of extremely small size, and is preferably made up of precious metal or ornamental appearance, the intrinsic value of the device will cause the user, or wearer to be careful to prevent its becoming lost. In this manner, the user will naturally be careful to have the totalizer with him at all times.

Other and further objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following specification together with the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure l is a front view of an embodiment of the invention, partly broken away;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a reduced view of the interior of the rear portion of the case of the embodiment shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a reduced view of the interior of the front portion of the case; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 55 of Figure *1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to Figure 1, the totalizer comprises a flat thin circular case designated generally as 11. Case 11 is hollow and comprises a front portion 12 (Fig. 4) and a rear portion 13 ('Fig. 3), the front and rear portions being arranged to fit together. The rear portion of case 11 is formed with a forwardly extending arcuate flange 14 which extends around approximately half of its circumference. Near the center of rear case portion 13 is a small round stud 15 which is shown integrally formed with the rear case portion 13. Also integrally formed with rear case portion 13, are inwardly projecting lugs 16 and 17 which are disposed in proximity .to the peripheral flange 14.

The rear case portion 13 is provided with rectangular notches at 18 and 19, and extending between these notches nited States Patent 6 is a circular edge portion 20 of somewhat greater radius than the external radius of arcuate flange 14-.

The front case portion 12 is formed with a rearwardly extending arcuate flange 21 which extends around approximately half of its circumference like the arcuate flange '14 of rear case portion 13. Near the center of front case portion 12 is a small round stud 22 which is integrally formed with the front case portion 12 and is juxtaposed With respect to the rear stud 15. Also integrally formed with front case portion 12, are inwardly projecting lugs 23 and 24 which are juxtaposed with respect to the rear lugs 16 and 17 respectively. Front case portion 12 also has a window 25 therein, the sides of window 25 extending generally radially with respect to the center of the'round stud 22.

Freely revolubly mounted on studs 15' and 22 is a thin flat counting or totalizing wheel 26 whose periphery is provided with a plurality of regularly spaced ti-shaped notches 27. A portion of the periphery of totalizing wheel 26 protrudes beyond the case 11, through the lateral opening between the ends of the inter-engaging flanges 14 and 21, permitting the wheel 26 to 'be turned manually, as desired. On its front surface, wheel 2-6 is provided with indicia which may be successively caused to appear behind the window 25. In the embodiment shown, these indicia are numbers proceeding by hundreds from 1 30 to 2466.

Disposed within case 11 and supported at one end by the juxtaposed lugs 16 and 23, and its other end by lugs 17 and 24, is an arcuately shaped flat spring 28. lntermediate its end-s, spring 28 is provided with an inwardly yieldingly urged projecting portion 29 which is generally V-shaped for engagement with the V-shaped notches 2'? of totalizing wheel 26.

The ends of spring 23 are bent at 31 for engagement with the lugs 16, 17, 23 and 24, thus preventing circular movement of the spring 28, around the interior of case 11. The thickness of spring 2 8 is such that it is held confined between the inner surface of flange 14 and the lugs 16, 17, 23 and 24, and the bent ends 3% are therefore prevented from slipping past these lugs.

The front and rear portions of the housing, are fitted together by engagement between the external surface of arcuate flange 14 and the internal surface of arcuate flange 21. To further prevent the front and rear portions from becoming separated, rear flange 14 is shown provided with a slightly rounded shoulder portion at 31 (Fig. 5) and front flange 21 is somewhat inwardly curved at 32 for engagement with the shoulder at 31. The inherent resiliency of the front arcuate flange 21 will hold it in engagement with the rear flange 14, yet will permit the two flanges 14 and 21 to be disengaged from each other when desired. if it is desired to keep the front and rear housing portions in permanent engagement, they may be 'soldered or otherwise permanently held together.

The case 12 is shown provided with a small ring portion 33 which is secured to flange 21 of front case portion 12 in any desired manner. Passing through the small ring 33 is a larger ring 34 of dimensions suitable for engagement with a neck chain, a watch chain, or the like. These rings have been omitted from Figure 4 for simplicity of illustration.

Preferably the case 11 is made of a precious metal such as gold, silver, platinum or the like, and the totalizing wheel 26 may also 'be made of similar metal. By this means the device acquires an appreciable intrinsic value, and the user will be likely to keep it close at hand. Moreover, this lends an ornamental appeanance to the device, so that it may be worn on a chain as an article of jewelry by means of ring 34.

'In operation, each time, in the course of the day, that the user eats food containing a certain number of calories, the totalizing wheel 26 is advanced one notch for each hundred calories so consumed. In this manner, the total number of calories consumed may be checked at any time by observing the total number appearing at window 25. As the maximum number for any particular diet will ordinarily remain a constant, which the user will naturally remember, he can tell at any time how much more food may be eaten without exceeding the total allowed by his diet.

I have shown what I believe to be the best embodiments of my invention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

A device of the class described, comprising a hollow circular case having front and rear walls, said walls having arcuate inter-engaging flanges extending partially around their periphery and providing a lateral opening in said case, one of said walls having a window therethrough, centrally located studs extending inwardly from each Wall, the ends of said studs being in juxtaposition, an indicia bearing circular disc freely revolvably mounted on said studs and having a series of notches in its Periphery, the disc extending beyond said case through said lateral opening, two pairs of lugs extending inwardly from each wall and disposed adjacent the circumference of said wall, the ends of said lugs being in juxtaposition, an armate spring member having an inwardly extending V- shaped portion biased to engage the notches in said disc as it is rotated and the two circumferentially extending arms each being provided with an inwardly bent end, said arcuate spring being disposed within said case so that said bent ends engage an end of each lug, and said arms, near their end portions, are held between said lugs and the flange of the rear wall, whereby said .arcuate spring is maintained in place and prevented from rotating.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 350,577 Carpenter Oct. 12, 1886 397,774- Briggs Feb. 12, 1889 1,236,973 Oldenbusch Aug. 14, 1917 1,255,909 Mon asch Feb. 12, 1918 1,779,684- Van Sicklen c. Oct. 28, 1930 1,938,727 Tammany Dec. 12, 1933 2,493,134- Gruden Jan. 3, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 561,527 France Aug. 9, 1923 

